Jodie Foster Is Gay, and It’s None of Your Business

By J. Bryan Lowder | Posted Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, at 12:53 AM ET

When Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony reached its celebration of Jodie Foster, the recipient of this year’s Cecile B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, the montage of clips from Contact and Nell was predictable. What was not predictable was Foster’s acceptance speech, at once charming, forthright, swerving, a little unhinged and strangely elegant. In it, Foster thanked all the usual colleagues up front, but then she quickly moved into a much more personal register in which, through making a joke about her new status as a single lady, she kind of, sort of, maybe a little bit came out of the closet. Annoyingly, the internet quickly went bananas trying to decide if Foster’s statement was militant enough to count, and so I was pleased when she went on to eloquently explain just why her romantic life should be none of our business.

Of course, as anyone who’s been following Foster’s career knows, she’s been essentially unguarded about her lesbianism for some time—at least, as Buzzfeed points out, since acknowledging her longtime partner in 2007. But she has never made an outright political statement of the sort increasingly popular among gay celebrities today.

In her speech, Foster seemed to take issue with the expectation—from LGBT activists and elsewhere—that simply because she’s a public figure, her personal life is anyone’s business but those with whom it directly intersects. "I already did my coming out back in the Stone Age,” she said. “In those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family and co-workers and then gradually and proudly to everyone who knew her – to everyone she actually met." She then bemoaned the decline of this kind of privacy, pointing out that when you’ve been in the public eye as long as she has, a modicum of the stuff is required to keep you sane.

I say we let her have it. As far as I’m concerned, as long as a gay person hasn’t been actively pretending to be straight (like a number of people in that hall tonight are probably doing), I don't think she is required to be an activist or even a "role model" for younger LGBT people if she doesn’t wish to be. It is, of course, wonderful when big names like Zachary Quinto and Anderson Cooper have the courage to give up their hetero-privilege in a public pronouncement, and undoubtedly the increasing recognition that so many of our culture-makers are gay has the power to challenge perceptions. But in the midst of the noisy demand that celebrities be “loud and proud,” as Foster put it, the ostensible endgame of the LGBT equality movement can get drowned out: the ability to live our lives as we wish, freely and gently, in peace.

44. I think most people probably feel the way you do

But I don't think it has to be our business. Who she decides to partner with has absolutely no bearing on her acting or anything else she does. It should be no more relevant than any other straight actor that doesn't have to put up with the nonsense.

17. This is the correct answer.

She managed to avoid unwanted attention at our alma mater Yale by associating primarily with the townie punk rock fans who always hung out on the wall by Beinecke Library. There were a few sightings at Rudy's bar near campus, but that was pretty much it.

She is an overrated actress, a passable director and ultimately a pseudo-artist who should have learned a hell of a lot more making movies as long as she did. I mean, look at Ron Howard. Now that is a hollywood career with artistic growth and trajectory.

12. Nonsense. MANY actors and directors, great and not, want and have wanted

45. Nominated for an Academy Award 4 times and won it twice

Her peers don't agree with you. Perhaps her accomplishments behind the camera aren't as great as in front of it, but she is by no means an overrated actress. Ron Howard is a phenomenal director and producer, but he never was all that great as an actor.

23. People are presumed to be straight, yes.

36. Perhaps, because I'm younger, and have grown up

with the idea that GLBT aren't some odd weird thing to "fear", I don't assume that. I would say that people below a certain age don't automatically assume that someone is straight.

In the "dating world", the questions are more like, "what's your sign, r u single, and are you gay/ straight/ or bi". It's not really assumed that you are a preferred gender. And I'll admit, when I was single and completely uninterested, I would tell men I was a lesbian. I had NO problem doing so. And when I was looking for scholarships to try to apply for in college, there was one that qualified if your were gay. I told my mom, can I apply, the scholarship doesn't have a lot of qualifying academic necessities for application. My mom has been "growing" in acceptance of GLBT is ok or normal, but at that time, she was mortified that I would tell the world I was gay to qualify for a scholarship. (And the only reason I thought anything about it was because of the movie where a white boy pretended to be black to get a scholarship to Harvard Law). I told her I didn't care what the world thought of me, I'm trying to get an education, however, I won't cheat someone else who is actually gay or lesbian from getting the scholarship because in the long run, my moral, internal guidance would feel like I was doing wrong and harming others. I was mortified that she felt it would be a bad thing to say I was a lesbian.

Thankfully, she's evolved and doesn't give a flying whoop. And is at the point where she believes that 2 people who want to enter into a contracted marriage ought to have that right. As it is now, families that are living as a family unit don't have the protections they should have with property, child rights, or ability to make decisions for a loved one without outside interference of other family members or from asshat hospitals/ Drs/ nurses causing more pain for families by denying access to one another during critical times in people's lives.

I hope that my frankness and "let live" attitude has helped to change her mind a bit, along with more families living their lives as "out" partners in VT. It's hard to say to someone's child that their parents love and family is "less" than anyone else's... And she's a teacher now. Thank God!

Even the MTV "reality show" of strangers living together were first in having GLBT community members represented and living together. And as time has moved on with this show, the question is now "who's the gay or bi roomie?"; and much less of having some tool on the show that doesn't believe "gay is right". Now, we have a President who believes openly that marriage should be equal and that's a wonderful thing.

25. She sticks it in your face and then...

...says "It's none of your business"? I'm a bit confused. I mean, she's a great actress. She's played some amazing parts, and she's a very attractive woman. Other than that, I know nothing about her personal life. Well, now I do, and I'm not sure I really care.

It just seems a bit hypocritical to me to stick it in our faces, and then tell us to not pay any attention to it. I'm glad she feels good with herself. Apparently she's been living a pretty open life, as she should, with her sexuality. I'm sorry, but I just think she is a hypocrite on this one.

31. I agree....

What is to be achieve by saying, "It's none of your business"? She practically had the attention of millions if not billions and she could have used it as a voice for people who do not have equal rights.

28. I think she has a moral obligation to come out

Gay kids still kill themselves because they are gay. LGBT people can still be fired in 34 states just for being gay. Gays and lesbians can only get married in a little less than 20% of the country. LGBT people in America are currently treated as second class citizens by our governments and much of the public. One of the many reasons for this is LGBT people that have power do not come out and demand better. The next generation of LGBT people depend on the current one to make life better for everyone.

If I am to believe anything she said in her speech or her long acting career she has to be genuine, I believe she should come out and do what she can to make life better for all of us.

34. You have a name like FreeState

then proceede to tell others what their moral obligations are. What if she came out and said I am gay but I would like it kept private and I think all Gay people should. Why do we insist on running other peoples lives, when we our selves would never put up with such intrusions. She is an adult and gets to live her life the way she chooses to. That is a powerful message for all of us, on that a lot of people have forgotten.

43. Tag Line

They are telling her what her Moral obligation is. Yes hopefully we are all still allowed our opinions, but that is were it should end. Not telling others how to live. I guess I just broke my own rule. See what a slippery slope that turns out to be. Nothing like HOT Sauce!

46. Here's what I wrote when Anderson Cooper came out

COOPER: "It's become clear to me that...I have given some the mistaken impression...that I am trying to hide something...that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid..."

TRANSLATION: "It's become clear to me that so many people have known I'm gay for such a long time, my silence has begun to undermine my personal AND professional credibility."
link

And here's what I wrote when Stephanie Miller came out:

...She said she'd gotten to the point where "cheering from the sidelines" for was no longer enough -- it was time for her to "get down on the field..."

"I can't imagine why I thought being out would be harder than being in." That's what a gay co-worker told me...Maybe, like my co-worker, Stephanie got to the point where being out HAD to be easier, regardless of the personal and professional consequences...
link

I first learned about Jodie's sexual orientation about thirty years ago via a sign on a telephone pole in Greenwich Village (New York City). I don't recall reading her reaction to it, but I read many articles denouncing outing as a tactic -- a group felt that "going cold turkey" was a faster path to acceptance. I looked at outing as just plain mean-spirited, but on the other hand, looking at it that way gave me reason to believe the stories were false.

I guess Jodie has found herself in the same boat as Anderson and Stephanie: either her public silence about her homosexuality had become too deafening, or she felt guilty about reaping the fruit of the LGBT movement's labors without planting seeds of her own. Her claims to "privacy" in her speech made me wince: here's hoping that she can now be public enough to contribute something more to the cause.

47. what a steaming pile and how very, very American of you

29. She walked the line adroitly.

The 'line' between honesty and privacy rights, between respect for her public supporters and disrespect for her public exploiters. It would be excessively mean-spirited of me to sneer at her acceptance speech. I found it interesting, entertaining, and noteworthy. I watched it for free. I got more than my money's worth. I'd be a real asshole to complain.

38. Not to be rude but...

39. I did not care what her sexuality was before I knew,

and I still do not care. I don't know the person, will never meet the person, and so it's a matter of indifference to me. For me, it is the roles actors play and how they play them that is interesting. I often have no idea what actor is playing a particular role, and even if I do, I pay no attention to anything about the actor outside of the performance.

I would not inquire about her sexuality. If she tells me, I still will not care, one way or the other.